Pige med lyserød hat, kunstnerens søster Anna 1907 - 1908

Harald Giersing made this portrait of his sister Anna with what looks like chalk or conte crayon. You can really feel the process here. It's like seeing a thought emerge, line by line. There’s something about the way the lines are so tentative, so searching, that pulls you in. Look at how he renders the hat. It’s barely there, just a suggestion of form. And then the way he captures the shadow of her cheek, with these soft, smudgy marks, it’s so delicate and tender. The pink is just enough to animate the portrait. You can almost feel Giersing's hand moving across the page, trying to capture something fleeting and ephemeral. It makes me think of other artists like Paula Modersohn-Becker, who were also exploring the possibilities of portraiture in a similarly intimate way. It’s like they’re all part of a conversation, grappling with the same questions about how we see and represent each other. Ultimately, it is a beautiful, imperfect, and unresolved image.